If you were to write your own epitaph right now… what would you say? Would you be happy with what you’ve accomplished? Would you be pleased with who you’ve become? If someone else wrote it – how would it mesh with what you would say? Would you emphasize the same ‘things’ that someone else would?
Perhaps those were a lot of questions, but the point is – rather than focusing on ‘what’ you’ve done, have you become the person you want to be? Is the person you see as you the same person that others see as you? Obviously my contention is that the ‘who’ of you is far more important than the ‘what’ of you. And, how close is your view of you to others view of you?
If could be argued that the ‘what’ points to the ‘who’, and yes… and also, not completely. One sees the public face of people in the what but of paramount concern and interest should be the underlying ‘who’. A different way of looking at this is… do you walk your talk?
We are all in a state of constantly ‘becoming’ and this is good because this means we’re growing and learning and experiencing. It allows us the opportunity to refine. But this is also based on an under girding foundation – the ‘place’ from which growing and refining takes place. It really is quite important for us to be on intimate terms with this.
We need to know and accept the who that is presented now because without this understanding our ‘what’ has no substance. And, more important, our ‘who’ has no depth from which to change and grow. How do you want your epitaph to read? You are the only one that can write your story.
